


Light Corruption

by SabertoothedCat



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Corrupted Steven Universe, Corruption, F/M, Jasper Redemption (Steven Universe), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-21
Updated: 2020-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:54:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22835092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SabertoothedCat/pseuds/SabertoothedCat
Summary: Steven goes missing, and Connie and the gems found more than they had anticipated
Relationships: Connie Maheswaran & Steven Universe, Connie Maheswaran/Steven Universe
Comments: 1
Kudos: 85





	1. Discoveries

**Author's Note:**

> Based on this theory https://weirdcatthingamabob.tumblr.com/post/190950360005/corrupted-steven-theory by weirdcatthingamabob

Connie didn't know what time it was when Pearl had called her to say that Steven was missing. She only knew that she had to help them find him.

He'd been acting weirdly recently, as if he were hiding something. But Connie shook it off as nothing.

But now that she thought back, perhaps it did have something to do with that. 

It was now 1 pm. Connie had been looking for Steven in the forest for the better part of six hours. Even despite the protests of her parents about going, she left.

She'd been looking everywhere, until she found something. What looked like a picnic and a massive crater.

She texted Pearl to come over to where she was, and took out her sword, just in case.

The crater was very familiar. Not in a good way. It reminded her of Pink Steven's scream. Now that she looked at it, it was very similar. Scratch that. Identical.

Connie tore her eyes from the crater and looked at what remained of the picnic. There were the usual picnic stuff such as the basket, blanket and food. But then she noticed unusual stuff, such as Steven's ukulele and… a box?

The box was small and square, and covered in velvet. It looked like it cost a lot to make it.

Curiosity took hold of her, and she looked inside the box, and was pleasantly surprised. A beautiful, golden ring lay in it.

Pieces in her mind snapped together. The crater, the picnic, ukulele and ring. And she gasped.

Steven put it together, for her. He was going to propose to her.

She couldn't help but cry. Unbeknownst to her, eyes watched in sympathy and sadness.

The gems arrived a few minutes later. They all looked at the wreckage, and Pearl agreed that it was identical to the one that happened in the reef.

When Connie showed Bismuth the ring, she gasped. She studied at it for another moment, before sighing.

"Steven asked me to make it. He didn't say who, but I only had to guess." Bismuth told her.

Connie stuffed the ring into her pocket for safekeeping.

They all searched the area for Steven, but to no avail. Nothing.

After several more hours of searching, Amethyst found something. A footprint. An absolutely massive one. Perhaps half the size of Blue Diamond's arm ship's hand.

Realizing that they were up against something enormous, they ran out of there.

They ran to the house. Connie searched for anything of possible use while the others comforted each other.

And then she found something. The diamond communicator. Connie ran downstairs as fast as she could to the gems.

"I found the communicator!" She shouted. All of the gems rushed around her as she turned it on. Three separate colours appeared. At the top white, at the lower left yellow and the lower left blue.

Three diamonds of the respective colours appeared.

"Hello there… Connie. Where is Steven?" White asked her. The gems and Connie looked at each other.

"He's missing." Garnet answered her. There was a silence as the Diamonds processed the information.

Blue was the first to panic. "WHAT?" She yelled, a blue aura enveloping her as she cried.

Yellow was hyperventilating, despite not having to breathe. She looked like she was having a panic attack.

White, however, had a purpley-blue tinge with some green marking her face. Connie had learned once to recognize the meanings of colours. Purple was fear, blue was sadness, and green was… disgust? Guilt?

Why would White be disgusted or guilty? Wouldn't she be just afraid? Blue was slightly understandable. But even then, why was she so sad?

White stared into the distance at nothing in particular. Tears the size of cars began to pour from her eyes as she gripped her head.

Everyone stared at her as she cried. No one had ever seen her cry.

"White..?" Blue tried. There was no reaction. "White? What-"

"Why did I have to do that?" White mumbled to herself as she cried. "Why? WHY?" She yelled. All of Homeworld reverberated from the yell.

"White? What did you do?" Yellow asked calmly as the reverberations stopped. White looked at her hands.

"I blasted him." She muttered, more tears pouring. The gems stared at her in disbelief.

"Blasted as in Diamond blast? The same one you used to corrupt the gems?" Connie eventually muttered out.

White hiccoughed and nodded. Connie fell to the ground, crying.

"Why? What did he do?!" She shouted. Connie still didn't fully trust White after what happened in her head. Connie still had nightmares about every now and again.

White looked at Connie in shock, but then lowered her head. "I… I tried to pick him up… and he… attacked me…" she stuttered. "I was confused as to why he would do that… and then I tried to apologize… and he attacked me again. I was just so… so… angry that he would do that… and I didn't think…"

Connie stared at her in rage. "HE HAS PTSD THANKS TO WHAT YOU DID! HE IS AFRAID OF YOU FROM WHEN YOU DID  _ THAT _ !" She screamed. The gems looked at her in confusion.

"Connie." Pearl put a hand on Connie's shoulder. "What is  _ that _ ?" She asked.

"He didn't tell you, did he?" Connie sobbed. "He didn't tell you about what happened in White's head, did he?"

Connie remembered Pearl grabbing her, Steven being picked up and split from his gem and  _ Pink Steven _ 's destruction.

"White ripped out his gem." She replied simply.

Everyone stared at White in shock, with the exception of Connie, who was glaring at her with a death glare.

"You did what to Steven?!" Yellow yelled. Electricity crackled around her.

Blue was looking at White in disgust, as water appeared out of nowhere and she sprouted wings.

Connie, despite wanting to poof White, reminded herself that they still had to find Steven.

"I know we all want to poof White." White looked in horror as everyone nodded in agreement at Connie's statement. "But we still need to find Steven."

At that moment, a large boulder came crashing through the roof. Everyone jumped back, as it fell through the floor.

The Diamonds shapeshifted to a much smaller size and warped into the dome. Once they were out, they shapeshifted back into their original size.

Around where Jasper's cave resided, a massive fusion that looked like Malachite was battling what looked like a giant corrupted gem. But it wasn't like any that anyone had ever seen before.

It was massive, larger than White and coloured deep shade of purple. It had six limbs, and large spikes covering its back.

It clawed and fought the Malachite, but the Malachite poofed. Then it stared at the beach. More specifically, them.

No one could see its emotions from there, but judging by the roar it emitted, they could only guess rage.

The gem galloped towards them at speeds even Sapphire couldn't reach. And before anyone could get into any sort of battle stance, it bit White right in half.

White gasped for air once, before poofing, her giant gem falling to the ground in a  _ thud _ .

Now that they saw the corrupted beast, they could see its true size. It was twice as big as White. It had black eyes with pink pinpricks for pupils, but no sign of any gem.

Everyone got into a battle stance, preparing for any kind of attack. But the creature's emotions shifted when it looked at Connie. It went from rage, to something unreadable. Somewhere between sadness and fear. and without any hesitation, it leapt away, past the car wash, past funland, and into the distance.


	2. From unchanging to change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connie and the gems find more than they were expecting

As the gems and Connie recovered from the shock, Greg came running to the temple.

"Guys? What was that?" He panted. The others were still staring at where the massive corrupted gem once stood.

Connie looked at the footprint of the gem. It was the same as the one back in the valley. Worry crept into her thoughts. What if that gem harmed Steven? ~~What if that was Steven?~~

She scratched the last one from thought. That one was impossible. Right?

Connie  _ had _ noticed something shiny on it's belly, but she took it as a figment of her imagination.

"What are we going to do with White now?" Blue asked Yellow. White's gem was enormous, and nowhere would be large enough for her.

Then the massive gem began to glow as she reformed. It hadn't been more than a few minutes, and she was already reforming.

It seemed like White didn't want to waste any time on choosing any new outfit, as she came back with the exact old one. The other diamonds raised an eyebrow at the choice of clothing, but said nothing.

"Where is it? Where is the gem?" White panicked once she was able to properly perceive everything happening around her.

"It's gone White. It left before you reformed." Replied Yellow. "Also, why didn't you choose a new outfit?"

White huffed, and looked away. "I can spend weeks choosing a new outfit and I didn't want to waste time."

"Are we going to continue looking?" Connie shouted up at them. They looked down as she pointed at the massive footprint.

"Are we gonna track it down, or what?" Bismuth asked. The others nodded in agreement.

They looked for hours upon hours, with Blue, Lapis and Peridot on sky duty and the others on ground duty. Even when clouds and thunder rolled over above them, they continued to search.

But at the end of the day, there were no signs of either Steven or the corrupted gem. However, when they arrived at Jasper's cave, they had a surprise.

Two gems, one Jasper's and the other a Lapis Lazuli, and both were reforming. Jasper was the first to reform, with a similar outfit to her last, yet slightly bluer. The Lapis Lazuli, who actually turned out to be Freckles, as Steven had called her, had gotten rid of her dress completely, and replaced it with a pair of black leggings and a browner top.

Once Jasper reformed, she looked frantically for something, or someone and relaxed when she saw Freckles.

"You're okay! I was so worried if you were shattered and-" she rambled, but Freckles just hugged her.

"Ooh. Jasper, I didn't know you had a girlfriend." Amethyst teased. Jasper squeaked at the sound of Amethyst behind her.

"Amethyst! What are you… oh.." Jasper stopped as she saw the group of gems behind her.

Garnet was clearly fighting the urge to smile at the two gems, while Lapis was in a battle stance.

"So. What happened?" Connie asked them. She knew that Jasper lived there, but Freckles being there was a mystery. "Also, Freckles, how come you're here?"

Jasper and Freckles looked at each other. "First of all, Lapis, I'm so sorry for forcing you to fuse. I hope that someday you can forgive me." Jasper apologized, leaving Lapis stunned.

"Some time ago, Steven told me about a lonely jasper who lived here." Freckles started. "He said that maybe I could give her some company. So I started coming here. At first Jasper didn't want to talk at all. But after a while, she began to open up. And then there was today. I came here to talk but then that corrupted gem came. I have no idea where it came from. It just… appeared out of nowhere. We think it was going to attack Little Homeworld. We fought as much as we could separated, but it wouldn't work.

" So I asked Jasper to fuse." She stated, puffing her chest in pride. But her face fell a moment later. "We were stronger together, but not strong enough. And it poofed us."

"But you have poofed it." Jasper asked. "Right?" No one looked at her in the eyes. Jasper and Freckles looked at the group and noticed something. "Where's Steven?"

Connie, let out a small sob. "He's missing." Freckles gasped.

"Steven's missing?" Jasper shouted. Everyone, except Freckles was quite surprised. They thought that Jasper and Steven weren't on the best of terms. Apparently that was not the case.

"I thought you weren't on the best terms with Steven." Bismuth asked her. It was a question that obviously needed answering.

Jasper almost looked shocked. "Perhaps to begin with, but now he visits every other day." Jasper glared at the group.

"If we're going to find him, then we'll have to be bigger." Freckles told Jasper. Jasper nodded.

The two gems danced towards each other and a bright light surrounded them. A fusion with green skin, orange horns and two eyes and arms. 

"Well, well, well." She said. Her voice was similar to Freckles', but gravellier. She was much more stable than Lapis' Malachite. "Call me Malley."

As she summoned her wings, a loud roar was heard from the direction of Little Homeworld.

Everyone ran out of the forest to see the giant corrupted gem walking towards Little Homeworld.

They rushed towards it, Connie at speeds that she thought were impossible. As they neared it, Connie kept on noticing similarities between it and Steven.

But she was still in denial.

The gem began to attack Little Homeworld, shooting out fire from its mouth. The Diamonds were most likely to have a better attack on it due to their size.

"Hey giant clod!" Peridot yelled at it. Perhaps she wasn't expecting it to hear her, but it did. And she squeaked.

It turned towards them and narrowed its eyes. And then it pounded towards them. Alexandrite came to be right next to Connie and summoned a giant chain-hook, or kusarigama.

The Diamonds each summoned their weapons- Yellow a giant broadsword; Blue a crossbow; and White a staff.

Lapis, Bismuth were mumbling stuff to each other until they all nodded and began to dance. A fusion, roughly the size of sugilite emerged, iridescent grey skin and turquoise hair shining from the fire.

And then it attacked. It went for White once again, but this time she had predicted that and jumped above it. Yellow slashed her broadsword at it, but only caught its right eye.

It reeled back in pain, attacking the Diamonds aggressively as a red liquid oozed from its eye.

Then Connie noticed something. Gems never bled. When the gem stood up on its back two legs in an attempt to attack White, she saw it. A giant, pink gem, embedded deeply where a human's navel would be.

She was right. It was Steven. That's why it wanted to attack White. Because she attacked him first.

"Oh no." Connie mumbled to herself. But before she could do anything, all three Diamonds had poofed from a blast of pink flames.

Unfortunately, as Steven turned, his tail hit her and sent her flying a good dozen metres back, and almost certainly breaking her leg or arm.

Alexandrite got her weapon ready and had a swing at Steven, looping her hook around one of its horns. The Corrupted Steven noticed it and leapt towards her.

When Connie realised that Alexandrite was preparing for another attack, Connie had to stop her.

"Don't attack! That's Steven!" She shouted. Everyone looked at her. "What?" Yelled Alexandrite before she was charged into the windmill, sending it toppling down.

The unnamed fusion looked away as one of its arms patted its back. Malley got her helmet ready to strike, and flew towards Steven and tried to attack his leg, but managed to do nothing at all.

Instead, Corrupted Steven just sent her flying far back.

Then the yet-to-be-named fusion flew forwards and tried another approach. The classic water chain attack.

The chains were perhaps just about strong enough to hold Blue Diamond, they barely held Steven. He snarled at her, lashing forwards until he separated them, all falling to the ground but Lapis, who just about managed to continue flying.

She flew to Connie, who gave her an important order. "Get Greg." And with that, she flew to the car wash.

Connie didn't know what to do. Luckily, no more than a few seconds later, Lapis appeared with Greg.

"Connie what-" Greg tried, but looked at the massive corrupted gem. Or more specifically, his gem. He broke down crying, realizing what had happened.

Connie was weak. Both physically and emotionally. She slowly stood up, using her sword as a crutch for her broken leg.

Lapis could no longer deal with anything else at that moment, and she poofed.

Connie hobbled her way to Steven, or at least as close as she could get. There was a small hill, where maybe Connie could face Steven.

Gems of all kinds, including the Crystal Gems ran out of Little Homeworld. Each footstep destroyed another building. And while gems were still trying to defeat him, they were too weak.

The Crystal Gems rushed towards Connie, asking her where she was going to. "Go help Greg." She said. It was a tone that wasn't meant to be messed with. And they did exactly as she had asked.

Once on the hill she shouted for him. Steven turned his head to stare at her, once again leaping towards her.

Once Steven was directly in front of Connie, ready to attack at any moment she sat down. The corrupted Steven looked at her in confusion.

"Steven. I know you're afraid." She started. "I know you're afraid to be left alone, as if everyone had forgotten you. But we won't. I promise."

And she sang, slowly and gently.

" _ Hey, you, show me the unsolvable problem, _

_ We can get through this, _

_ I'll do the hardest part with you. _

_ It's the true, _

_ It's the true, _

_ It's the true kinda love. _

_ It's the true, _

_ It's the true, _

_ It's the true kinda love." _

When she opened her eyes, Steven, although still corrupted, was crying.

She walked towards him, and kissed his nose. "We'll get through this. Together."

A glow enveloped Steven, as he slowly shrunk down back to his original size. Once the glowing had stopped, he floated in midair for a moment, before falling to the ground, where Connie managed to catch him.

"Connie, I-" Steven tried, before he was promptly kissed by Connie. He just melted into it.

Then, both of them were tackled by a pile of gems and Greg. They were all crying. Once the whole tears stopped pouring, Steven noticed the new additions to his body.

"I have horns? Wait- why can't I see from my right eye?" He shouted. Everyone looked away awkwardly.

"When you attacked White, Yellow may or may not have sliced your eye." Connie replied in a low voice.

Steven licked his hand and pressed it to his still painful eye. It glowed for a moment, before he opened it. 

"Hey! So it's not incurable!" He shouted happily. Pearl pulled out a mirror from her gem and gave it to him.

Steven's right eye was pink with a diamond pupil and a long scar running across it. He noticed the pink markings and two remaining horns above each of his eyes and hummed.

"I guess I'll have to live with these now." He mumbled. Connie suddenly felt the ring box that Steven was planning on proposing to her with.

She gave the gems a quick look of desperation, asking them to get off of them. And they did so. Garnet began to grin widely, knowing what was going to happen. The others had a good idea as well.

Connie got on one knee and began. "Steven. I've known you for the last six years. We've been through almost everything together. And I love you beyond apprehension. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. As Stevonnie. So." She opened the box. "Will you marry me?"

Steven looked at her once, let out a single sob, and flew into her arms, kissing her again, only this time deeper.

At that moment, the three diamonds began to glow and reform.

Blue was first. Her outfit was similar to the one in the moon base. Actually nearly identical.

Yellow was next. She had gotten rid of the shoulder pads, and instead had more of a jacket as opposed to her other outfit. But her jacket had kept the tails, similar to her previous form. Instead of all yellows now, there was much more brown in her outfit.

And lastly White. Once again, she didn't change much. But she got rid of her cape. A slight change.

The three of them fell to the ground with a thud, and then looked around as they tried to find the corrupted gem.

"Where is it?" White panicked. Her eyes finally fell onto Steven, who was staring back with wide eyes.

She slowly walked towards Steven. "Steven. I'm so sorry for doing that. I regret it so much and I hope you can forgive me one day."

Steven looked up at her and then jumped up onto her hand. "It'll take time… but I will be able to." He grinned.

"Uhhh… Steven! I'm still kind of stuck." Connie shouted up. Steven realised that, and floated back down.

"So… what happened to you?" He asked her. Connie lifted her trouser to reveal her inflamed leg.

"You bashed me with your tail and broke my leg." Noticing Steven's worried expression, she quickly added. "I'm fine! I just need a magical kiss."

Later in the day, while Connie and Steven were together talking, they both remembered something. "How do we tell my/your parents?"

  
  
  


**Five months later**

"Beloved friends and family! We are here to watch the union of two loved ones, whose friendship goes back to many years ago.

We are here for the union of Steven Universe and Connie Maheswaran."

The Crystal Gems were all proud. Everyone there was. The Diamonds and Spinel, Greg, Mr. And Dr. Maheswaran, the Gems, Andy, hell, even all of Little Homeworld was there.

"Steven Universe. Do you take Connie as your wife, now and forever?"

Steven grinned. "I do." His dress flowed in the gentle wind.

"And Connie Maheswaran, do you take Steven to be your husband?"

She smiled. "I do." Her tux was shining in the daylight.

"So by the power invested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife!" Garnet finished.

The two kissed, and in a flash, Stevonnie appeared, much to Garnet's delight and the Maheswaran's confusion. They were one of the few people who had never met Stevonnie.

And yet, here they were. They had Steven's dress and Connie's tux all together in one. And despite still having problems with the horns, gems still trying to kill them and such, they'd always have each other.


	3. Epilogue

A person switched on the tap for the bath. They put all of the Diamonds' essence into the bath, and then stuck one of their fingers into their mouth and then into the bath as well.

They put a bubbled gem, what looked like an amethyst, into the bath, and then popped the bubble. The gem reformed, no longer as a corrupted gem, but rather its original form but with horns.

"Hi there!" They greeted the gem. The Amethyst looked at them. They wore a white shirt with a star and a pink jacket, alongside a pair of jeans. They appeared to be human, but had several purple spots and horns and a pink eye with a diamond pupil. "You may be confused right now, but I can show you around."

They showed the amethyst around Little Homeworld, Beach city and a part of the forest.

"What is your name?" The amethyst finally asked them. She had noted the strange behaviour of the human, like how they touched their horns whenever someone mentioned corruption.

"Me?" They asked, laughing. "My name is, and always will be Stevonnie."


End file.
